Review: Troy

I took a long-needed break. I just got back from seeing Troy. It's been nearly seven years since I last read The Iliad (I read it twice). SPOILERS. In the film, Achilles is the central character, and there is a love story between him and a priestess. I do not recall a love story in the book, and the book had many heroes. (Actually, I don't recall Homer taking any of the two sides.) A lot of the other characters who were central in the book played only a small part in the film, and vice versa. Also, a lot of the character motivations have been lost or not elaborated upon. The roles played by the gods is also lost, although they were key to the events in the book and helped show how events unfolded based on the actions of the characters. Overall, good cinematography but the storyline lacked some direction and pacing. (I'm hoping that a film company makes a historical/adventure/romance/disaster film set in the final days of Pompeii. That setting would call for an excellent movie, I think. There are so many possibilities.)